Seraphine

The next day.

The sporadic hum of engines broke the dawn's stillness, and the entire city gradually stirred to life under the morning sun.

The Zaunite apprentices finally got off their night shifts, heading home to sleep.

They trickled out of the factories like a swarm of exhausted ants, moving sluggishly.

Small-time vendors from Zaun had already set up shop at the factory gates, propping up fly-speckled breakfast stalls.

The stalls sold cheap food that no Piltover local would even glance at—Bog Toads, sewer rats, stinky cheese sauce sandwiches, bread slices fried in reused oil—all about quantity, filling you up, and packing in the calories.

Li Wei picked through the options, eventually grabbing the cheapest, most durable black bread.

Then, like his fellow workers, he huddled in small groups, finding a spot on the curb to sit down, chewing and chatting while breathing in the fresh exhaust fumes.

"Li Wei, don't eat that crap! The black bread they sell here is harder than stone. Is that even fit for people?"

Li Wei had just sat down when someone patted him on the shoulder from behind.

Turning around, it was his scrawny, monkey-like coworker, Baku, also a Zaunite.

"Get lost! Who are you calling not a person?" Li Wei took it as a joke. "If the black bread's no good, then treat me to something better!"

"I will." This guy, known in the original owner's memory for being stingy, agreed without hesitation.

Then Baku actually sat down beside Li Wei, waving a steaming hot soft sandwich in front of his face.

"Holy crap, with egg and ham slices?!"

Li Wei was genuinely stunned by this luxury combo.

A soft toast sandwich, with egg and ham.

The moment he held it, the looks from the people around them noticeably changed.

"You're actually treating me? Did you lose your mind?" Li Wei eyed Baku suspiciously, sizing up his brain.

"Pfft! I'm feeding you like this, and you still got a mouth on you." Baku laughed and cursed at him. "Just take it when I offer. We probably won't get another chance to eat breakfast together like this anyway."

As he laughed, the smile started to fade.

"Hey, Li Wei," Baku shoved the meat-and-egg sandwich into Li Wei's hands, snatching the black bread from him in return, and took a bitter bite. "Why the hell didn't you tell us you borrowed usury from those bastards?"

"Now they've come looking for you at the factory. Even Mr. Ervin won't protect you!"

"... " Li Wei fell silent.

He knew why Baku was suddenly so worked up.

Because in the world of Zaunite apprentices, anyone who got tangled up with those Zaunite Gangs' usury was as good as done for.

In Baku's eyes, with him walking away today, he'd probably never come back to work at the factory.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan."

"Plan my ass! What kind of plan could you have? When have those dogs ever gone easy on anyone? You owe them usury and can't pay it back—the outcome's worse than death!" Baku couldn't help but curse.

Then he went on, muttering to himself, "Li Wei, are you stupid? Why the hell are you still coming to work at a time like this? Pack your stuff and take your sister back to Zaun!"

"Back in Zaun, at least you can hide from those bastards, or else—"

"I know, I know." Li Wei nodded along, his feelings complicated.

He knew he couldn't convince Baku to believe he could turn things around.

So Li Wei had to promise him, "I'll head back to Zaun in a couple of days. Don't worry."

"Mhm..." Baku lowered his head and took another bite of the black bread, chewing hard for a long time before speaking again. "Be careful when you go back to Zaun. Don't die there."

"Just stay alive. Maybe after I get my Piltover ID, I'll have a chance to bring you all over too."

"Pfft, keep dreaming." This time, Li Wei was sure the guy was joking again.

Getting an official Piltover ID wasn't that easy. Even if he did get one, there was no way he could bring people over from Zaun.

The threshold for legally immigrating from Zaun to Piltover was sky-high, and the cost was enormous. That kind of money wasn't just out of reach for Zaunites—even an average Piltover family couldn't afford it.

"Well..." Baku actually thought about it seriously for a moment. "I've got a plan."

"By then, I'll be a Piltover citizen. I can adopt you as my son and marry your sister as my wife. You call me Dad, I call you Brother-in-law. We'll go through the family immigration route—costs a lot less."

Li Wei: "... "

"I'll fucking kill you!"

Across the street, next to the factory, stood a garden villa with its own courtyard wall.

This was the home of the factory owner, Mr. Ervin.

He was having breakfast with his wife, and his precious daughter sat right beside them.

The girl was about sixteen or seventeen, with thin cherry lips, a straight nose bridge, and big, watery blue eyes that seemed to speak. A waterfall of soft pink hair cascaded over her shoulders, making her milk-white skin look even smoother and brighter.

Paired with her princess-like, ornate dress, this girl's whole vibe was different from everyone else's.

Like she'd time-traveled from a modern metropolis mansion, here to star in some kind of transformation show.

"Ah—open wide, there's a good kitty. Time for breakfast."

The girl speared a tender slice of tuna, doting affection as she fed the plump cat cradled in her arms.

But the lazy feline just lay there limp, not even bothering to open its mouth.

"That's enough, Seraphine!"

Mr. Ervin set down his newspaper and called out his daughter's name in exasperation:

"That cat's practically a piglet the way you've been feeding it—stop spoiling it and eat your own breakfast first!"

"You're a grown girl; do I really have to teach you how to eat?"

"Yes, Daddy~" Seraphine stuck out her tongue playfully, finally setting down the overstuffed cat.

Two maids attending nearby stepped forward at once—one took the cat from her arms to look after it, while the other cleared the remaining half-plate of tuna and carried it to the kitchen to be thrown away.

As for Seraphine, she reluctantly picked up her knife and fork, hesitating and picking at the quinoa chicken salad, oil-free scrambled eggs, Black Forest smoked ham slices, and caviar hand-rolled sushi laid out before her.

In the end, she only nibbled a few bites of chicken breast and veggie salad before setting down her utensils with a lackluster sigh.

"You child. You barely ate a thing!"

"Look at you—you're wasting away to nothing."

Mrs. Erwin scolded her daughter with concern, but Seraphine just rubbed her tired eyes wearily:

"Sorry, Mom. I didn't sleep well last night, so I don't really have an appetite."

"Oh dear—" The Erwins' expressions turned tense: "Seraphine, did you hear those 'voices' again?"

"Mm." Seraphine nodded, looking drained.

She had been born with the special ability to hear the "Soul Voice," letting her listen to the "melodies" of others' souls.

This magical gift—akin to mind-reading but far more arcane in its workings—was undoubtedly the finest present heaven had bestowed upon her.

But unfortunately, Seraphine couldn't control her talent.

And so that gift became a curse instead.

She could never stop herself from hearing the soul melodies of those around her. Yet those melodies were far from graceful or rhythmic; instead, they were steeped in darkness and pain, weighed down by burden and torment.

These chaotic noises tormented Seraphine endlessly, gradually making her afraid to even step outside. The more people she saw, the more painful melodies she heard.

But even when she hid at home day and night like this, those voices still clung to her like a shadow.

"Sigh—" Seeing her daughter couldn't even sleep well, Mrs. Erwin's heart ached terribly.

She couldn't help turning to her husband: "Honey, that method you mentioned before—how's the research going?"

"You mean the Hextech Auditory Dampener?"

"It's not finished yet. The magical energy density of the Artificial Hextech Gems is too low; they can't successfully power the device. I'm still looking into how to solve that problem."

"What's there to research?" Mrs. Erwin frowned. "If it's a magical energy density issue, and Artificial Hextech Gems won't work, then just try using a Natural Hextech Gem instead."

"It's not that simple to just try," Mr. Ervin sighed. "Honey, you know what a Natural Hextech Gem is."

"That thing's so expensive there's no market for it! We've worked half our lives and only managed to open a small factory. If we actually bought one, we'd probably have to sink the whole factory into it."

"Then sink it!"

"Is your factory more important than our daughter?"

"Well—" Mr. Ervin winced in pain. "I just need to think it over a bit more!"

"Think about what? We fought tooth and nail to stay in Piltover so Nini could have a good life here. But now she's miserable every day and can't even leave the house—what's the point of having money then?"

"That's not fair. Money's not useless. Haven't we had enough of being poor in the first half of our lives?"

Even though they'd been wealthy for over a decade, thinking back to those days still made him tear up.

When he dreamed of those times at night and woke with a start, even his pillow was soaked.

"Being broke is the hardest sickness to cure," Mr. Ervin said bitterly.

"Pah!" His wife disagreed. "You stingy old fool, you only remember your own 'sickness'! What about our daughter?"

"Is it money or Seraphine?"

"I—I just want to wait a little longer. Our audio business is booming; even nobles from Noxus are coming to Piltover to place orders. I want to take a gamble—if we can expand the factory in the next couple of years and earn more, then we'll be able to afford a Natural Hextech Crystal!"

"Oh, go to hell! We can afford it right now! You old bastard, I see you'd rather have money than a daughter!"

As the couple argued, they even slipped back into the Zaunite dialect they hadn't used in years.

"Dad, Mom, stop fighting!"

Seraphine tried to play peacemaker beside them, but it had little effect.

It wasn't until she suddenly shuddered for no reason and clutched her head that her parents, on the verge of grabbing each other, finally calmed down.

"Nini!" The couple rushed over in alarm. "What's wrong? Are you hearing those 'voices' again?"

"Mm—" Seraphine pressed her hands to her head in pain.

Her talent had flared up uncontrollably again.

Countless Soul Voices converged from all directions—some from the factories, some from the streets, and others from the harbor, shops, and apartment buildings farther away.

Some were joyful, some were happy, but most were heavy.

"Hey!" Mrs. Erwin shot her husband a glare. "What are you standing around for? Go put on some music!"

Beautiful music could ease Seraphine's symptoms and help lessen her pain.

It was also one of the reasons she loved music.

"Wait—" Just as the couple was frantically trying to relieve her suffering, Seraphine suddenly lifted her head.

"What's wrong?" the couple asked, worried.

"I hear singing."

"Singing?" They hadn't put on any music yet.

"Yes, there's singing!"

Seraphine stared out the window, entranced:

"Over there, right over there!"

She walked excitedly to the window and yanked open the curtain:

"There's a very special soul—"

"His soul is singing!"

"A song I've never heard before!"